In both residential and commercial roofing applications, a roof covering material is utilized to provide the main water protection barrier. Whether the primary roof covering material comprises composite shingles, metal panels or shingles, concrete or clay tiles, wood shakes, or slate, a primary roof covering material is used to protect the building interior from water ingress. In addition to the roof covering material, roofing underlayment is often used beneath the primary roof covering material. The roofing underlayment acts as a water and moisture barrier.
It is desirable for roofing underlayment to provide a surface which has a sufficiently high coefficient of friction (“COF”) to reduce slippage of the roofing underlayment relative to the roof and also the bottom of shoes or boots and the top surfaces of the roofing underlayment, in particular when an installer walks on the roofing underlayment. The phrase “high coefficient of friction” in this document means a sliding coefficient of friction of at least 0.5 when tested with dry leather and at least 0.7 when tested with dry rubber (per CAN/CGSB-75.1-M88).
Roofing underlayment should be easily affixable to a roofing surface, for example by nailing or adhesion. They should ideally be impermeable to moisture. High tensile and tear strengths are also desirable to reduce tearing during application and exposure to high winds. Also, roofing underlayment should be light in weight to facilitate ease of transport and application, and should be able to withstand prolonged exposure to sunlight, air and water.
In another industry, lumber wrapping, a covering material that is useable in automatic lumber wrapping machines, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,594,375; 7,607,280; 7,836,666; and 7,997,050 is desirable to have improved properties afforded by the scrim coated products disclosed herein. The production of a lumber wrap from a flat sheet requires the flat sheets to be thermally welded together. The issue with standard, two side coated woven products for use as lumber wrap is that the welds are stressed in peel when the resultant welded lumber wrap is stretched over the lift of lumber. The stresses induced to create this stretch are sufficient to cause weld failure.
Thus, scrim coated products made from a polymer material that meets the above-mentioned needs and, in particular, has the necessary high COF and/or a low melting point material present on both sides of the scrim while only applying a coating to one side of the product are needed for these industries.